Font Awesome vs Penpot
The ultimate side-by-side head-to-head analysis for 2026.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — Font Awesome is free tier available, Penpot is free.
- How to start: Font Awesome is free tier available, Penpot is free.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. We do not publish a quality score, because we do not have one we can stand behind. They cannot tell you which tool fits your workflow — the sections below are there for that. How we score tools.
Font Awesome
Penpot
Category
Design
Design
Base Price
Free tier
Free
Public API
Yes
Yes
Mobile app
No
No
Open source / self-hostable
Yes
Yes
SSO (SAML)
No
No
Choose Font Awesome if:
Teams that need broad icon coverage without commissioning artwork.
Choose Penpot if:
Teams that need design collaboration without a per-seat contract, or with data residency rules.
Font Awesome: pros & cons
- Enormous icon coverage
- Consistent visual style
- Works with any framework
- Full font is heavy if loaded carelessly
- Pro tier needed for many icons
- Style is dated to some eyes
Penpot: pros & cons
- Open source with no seat licence
- Self-hostable, so files stay yours
- Uses open web standards under the hood
- Fewer plugins and integrations
- Performance lags on very large files
- Smaller community for help
Our verdict on Font Awesome
The safe default for icons. Load only what you use or it costs page weight.
Our verdict on Penpot
The credible open-source answer to Figma. Judge it on your file sizes before committing a team to it.